Jim Daly

How God Uses Our Tears

T. Dewitt Talmage (pictured below) was a well-known Brooklyn, New York preacher in the late 1800’s. He died in 1902. He once preached a message titled, “The Ministry of Tears.” It speaks powerfully to the reality of grief, but is also laced with an enormous spirit of hope.

He is basically trying to answer this great question: “What’s the use of our tears?”

Here are a few choice lines:

Why, when a family is put together, not have them all stay, or if they must be transplanted to make other homes, then have them all live?

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith

Ten Resolutions for Mental Health

Pastor and author John Piper recently shared notes he took during a 1976 lecture by Clyde Kilby (pictured, left), one of his professors in English literature at Wheaton College. His plea that night, according to Piper, “was that we stop being unamazed by the strange glory of ordinary things.”

Concluding his talk that October evening, Dr. Kilby offered ten suggested resolutions. With thanks to John Piper and the late Clyde Kilby, I am delighted to post them below:

At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

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Are We Obsessed with Our Pets?

Is it possible to love your dog or cat too much?

A colleague called to my attention a provocative article in World Magazine regarding Americans’ devotion to their pets. The author of the piece told of a veterinarian who likes to ask people if, given the choice between saving the life of a stranger in a burning building or their beloved pet, which one would they save?

“You’d be surprised,” he said, “how many would save their pet.”

Dogs and cats are increasingly becoming more and more part of the family.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, pop culture

Fiscal Cliff? How About the Moral Cliff?

There is endless talk these days about the looming “fiscal cliff,” the catastrophic economic nightmare that many predict will befall the United States if taxes go up and government spending is significantly cut come January 2, 2013, as mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

To be sure, the stakes are high.

But all this conversation about an economic cliff has got me thinking: Is there a moral cliff? And have we already reached it – or are we walking dangerously close to the edge?

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: finances

Four Reasons Women Cheat

There’s an essay that caught my attention on Foxnews.com this morning. It’s written by a woman named Marina Pearson. According to her byline she’s a writer and speaker whose career is dedicated to helping women “who are struggling to get over their ex to move on in a safe and nurturing environment.”

Her article is bluntly titled: “Why I Cheated on My Husband.”

That would be “ex-husband,” now. But what were the reasons? According to Ms.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, wife

Family Never Left Side of Coma Victim for 42 Years

From NBC News…a story of true love:

A woman who lived in a coma for 42 years, meticulously cared for by her family, died Wednesday in her home in Miami Gardens, Fla., the Miami Herald reported.

Edwarda O’Bara was a 16-year-old high school student in 1970 when she became sick from her diabetes medication and slipped into a diabetic coma.

According to the Herald, just before she lost consciousness, Edwarda asked her mother, Kaye O’Bara, to never leave her side, and her family never did.

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The Wisdom of Zig Ziglar

I was saddened yesterday to learn of the death of Zig Ziglar, a bestselling author and motivational speaker. He was 86. Zig inspired us and lifted our spirits by lifting up the name of Jesus. He reminded us to believe in ourselves only because Christ first believed in us.

Here are a few favorite quotes from over the years from the tongue and pen of Zig Ziglar:

Make every effort to be perceived as the most capable, not the most visible.

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Should Angus T. Jones Remain on “Two and a Half Men”?

Labeling a popular sitcom as “filth” is hardly news, unless the critique comes from one of its own stars.

Angus T. Jones plays the role of “Jake Harper” in the CBS program, “Two and a Half Men.” The 19-year-old actor created a firestorm this past Monday when he acknowledged that as a new Christian he’s grown disgusted with his participation in the program.

“I’m on ‘Two and a Half Men’ and I don’t want to be on it,” he told the Forerunner Chronicles, a media outlet which is part of an Alabama-based Church.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, faith, pop culture

When Sport Imitates Life

I’ve never met him, but he strikes me as the kind of guy I’d love to have as my neighbor.

His name is Ed Anzalone. New York football fans know him as “Fireman Ed,” and he’s been enthusiastically leading chants at New York Jets games for years. With his distinctive green and white New York City fire helmet, and sitting on the shoulders of a friend, nobody does a better job at firing up a crowd than big Ed.

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Five Favorite Quotes About Adoption

In honor of National Adoption Month, five wonderful and inspirational quotes:

Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance.
– Mother Teresa

Time and experience have taught me a priceless lesson: Any child you take for your own becomes your own if you give of yourself to that child. I have born two children and had seven others by adoption, and they are all my children, equally beloved and precious.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, kids, pro-life